Carrying the torch for gay marriage

Supporters fan out around the county

A handful of “marriage equality torches” were carried on foot, in cars and even on a unicycle to city halls around the county yesterday by people protesting Proposition 8, the November state ballot initiative that stripped gays and lesbians of the right to marry.

In a twist on protesting, organizers mobilized about 140 residents in far-flung corners of the county to walk their own streets carrying a “torch” as a symbol of the cause. The torch's flames were actually pieces of shaped metal.

An attack on the event organizer in Lemon Grove, which resulted in the arrest of an Oceanside man, was the only interruption of what was a relatively peaceful event.

“The whole point is to get outside of people's comfort zones and raise awareness,” said Ron deHarte, executive director of San Diego Pride, the gay-rights group that launched the event. “When people start to see gays and lesbians living in their own neighborhood, they change their opinion.”

Saddled on her motorcycle, south San Diego resident Silvia Gonzalez escorted one of five torches that passed from city to city yesterday. Gonzalez joined a procession that started in Imperial Beach at dawn and moved through Chula Vista and National City before traveling to Coronado by ferry.

“I'm happy to be doing something in the South Bay,” said Gonzalez, who is married to her spouse, Carolyn, in the eyes of her church but not the law. “I'm used to doing things where we have more of our supporters.”

Jett Ford of Chula Vista rumbled alongside. She and Gonzalez said they experienced only positive reactions from bystanders along the route – something Ford didn't expect so far from the traditionally gay-friendly neighborhoods of Hillcrest and central San Diego.

“I'm a little surprised,” Ford said. “The gay community isn't as visible here as in other places – but I love it.”

DeHarte didn't have the same luck in Lemon Grove, where a man approached and slapped him in the face a few times as deHarte stood next to the city's landmark lemon statue on Broadway, near a San Diego Trolley stop.

DeHarte, who was carrying a large rainbow flag, wasn't hurt but filed a report with the Sheriff's Department. A KUSI cameraman caught the incident on tape.

The daylong relay ended with a rally at the County Administration Center in downtown San Diego. Along the way, a small ceremony sometimes accompanied the handoff from one bearer to the next.

Lemon Grove Councilman George Gastil spoke at one such ceremony a few moments after deHarte was slapped. Gastil said that despite being “Obama country,” Lemon Grove voted strongly for Proposition 8 in November.

“I am giving you an assignment,” he told the small group traveling with the torch. “Reach out to your friends and neighbors and get those conversations going.”

North Park resident Chuck Stemke, who carried the torch through part of Lemon Grove, said he hopes being out in the public will help the growing movement for a 2010 ballot measure that would reverse Proposition 8.